Bent Creek Trail Information
This is your guide to individual trails in the Bent Creek area.
Boyd Branch
Blaze Color: Blue
USGS/USFS Number: 665
Easy trail with a beautifully engineered creek crossing on the upper end. From Boyd Branch Road, the trail is graveled to the creek crossing, which also has a hard gravel bottom and large flat paving stones on either side. The rest of the trail is smooth and gently climbing through a young forest on an old road bed.
Campground Connector
Blaze Color: Blue
USGS/USFS Number: 329
Connects the Bent Creek Campground with Bent Creek Gap Road. A smooth, level old roadbed which follows Bent Creek part of the way. Interpretive signs. Mixed pine-hardwood forest. Nice bridge right before intersection with Bent Creek Gap Road.
Chestnut Cove
Blaze Color: Yellow
USGS/USFS Number: 662
Deer Lake Lodge
Blaze Color: Orange
USGS/USFS Number: 664
Starting at the Rice Pinnacle parking area to the Deer Lake Lodge site, the trail is paved, and crosses a long wooden bridge. Beyond that, it turns left and is a rolling trail; travels beneath some powerlines (and it was formerly called "powerline trail". Connects the Deer Lake Lodge site to Ledford Branch Road.
Deerfield Loop
Blaze Color: Yellow
USGS/USFS Number: 335
Explorer Loop
Blaze Color: Yellow
USGS/USFS Number: 337
Green Valley
USGS/USFS Number: 484
Green's Lick
Hardtimes Connector
Blaze Color: Orange
USGS/USFS Number: 661
Connects the Hardtimes parking area with the entry road near the Rice Pinnacle parking area and the Deer Lake Lodge trail.
Homestead
Blaze Color: Orange
USGS/USFS Number: 333
This trail was recently completely re-graded. Travels along the shore of Lake Powhatan. Passes through the beach area and past the dam, then downstream along Bent Creek. There are a few footbridges and some wet places, but it's otherwise a fairly easy trail. Note: just past the beach area, the trail crosses Small Creek on a bridge and the trail is signed as Small Creek, not Homestead. The trails split shortly and Homestead goes left along the lake shore.
Ingles Field Gap
Blaze Color: Blue
USGS/USFS Number: 150
Intersects many other trails. Mostly sidehill, level in places. Logged areas. Climbs from Ledford Branch Road to Ingles Field Gap.
Ledford
USGS/USFS Number: 660
Little Hickory Top
Blaze Color: Yellow
USGS/USFS Number: 136
Follows an ancient roadbed along Little Hickory Top's slopes. Seeps, muddy & wet sections, small streams.
Lower Sidehill
USGS/USFS Number: 137A
Steep near south end, smaller hills near north end. Varied forest - from dry pine/oak to moist hemlock/cove hardwoods. Rocky areas. Research plots. Grassy fields. Logged areas. Stream crossings.
Mountains to Sea
Blaze Color: White
North Boundary Road
Blaze Color: Blue
USGS/USFS Number: 135
Wide gravel road near bottom, wide trail near top. Old guardrails. Open areas with lots of poison ivy and thorns.
Pine Tree Loop
USGS/USFS Number: 336
Shut-In Trail
Blaze Color: White
USGS/USFS Number: 345
The Shut-In Trail is a long, historic route which shares the path with the Mountains to Sea Trail. It travels from NC 191 near Bent Creek and Asheville to the Mount Pisgah parking area. George W. Vanderbilt, builder of the famous Biltmore Estate near Asheville, constructed the Shut-In Trail around the year 1890. He used it to climb the Pisgah Ridge, linking his hunting lodge at Buck Springs below the summit of Mt. Pisgah to his famous Estate. Although parts were obliterated with the construction of the Parkway, parts of this trail still follow the original route. Hikers today will find many access points where the trail touches and crosses the Blue Ridge Parkway, mainly at overlooks. This leads to many opportunities for short day hikes on the trail, which are mainly necessary since overnight stays are not allowed along the Parkway (and 16.3 miles is a bit long for most day hikers).
Sidehill
Blaze Color: Yellow
USGS/USFS Number: 145
Most of this trail was turned into a road during 2005. Although the Forest Service officially calls the trail the same length it used to be, I do not consider a gravel road open to vehicles a "trail". From Ledford Gap to Boyd Branch Road, it is a gravel road and will be permanently maintained that way. From Boyd Branch Road to Ingles Field Gap, it is currently a gravel road but will be allowed to revert to a "trail" over time. This may take a long time, and for now - it's not a trail. The actual trail remains from Little Hickory Top down to Laurel Branch Road and this part is bumpy with lots of rocks and roots in spots.
Sidehill Connector
USGS/USFS Number: 145
From Laurel Branch Road and Lower Sidehill trail, this is downhill to Bent Creek Gap Road. A short trail with a nice hemlock grove.
Sleepy Gap
Blaze Color: Red
USGS/USFS Number: 339
Small Creek
Blaze Color: Red
USGS/USFS Number: 334
Follows a small creek through young, mixed forests with plenty of the usual rhododendron and mountain laurel. Has recently been re-graded with some new bridges installed. Pleasant walk.
Wolf Branch
Blaze Color: Yellow
USGS/USFS Number: 666
Travels through the relatively flat stream bottom at the base of the mountains. Near the western end of this trail, you can see the hills rising out of the valley, and you'll start climb them before you reach Ledford Branch Road. Lots of ground pine, mountain laurel tunnels, and fern-filled woods; nice scenery. Several large mud holes and small stream crossings were replaced with sturdy wooden bridges on June 2, 2007 - National Trails Day. Popular, pleasant trail.
